Viewing page 1 of 11
This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.
Famous FLYERS "He floats through the air with the greatest of ease... ." This refrain might well have served as a tombstone epitaph for Floyd Smith, a onetime circus aerialist turned aviator who is credited with designing the basic free parachute in use in military and civilian aviation for over 50 years. His self-contained, ripcord-activated parachute design has saved the lives of more than 100,000 pilots and passengers in emergencies since it was first successfully tested 51 years ago. Born October 17, 1884, in Genesco, Ill., Floyd began drifting westward while still in his teens. By the time he was 23 he was already a seasoned veteran of the flying trapeze, having been a cowboy, machinist, orange grower, sugar factory worker ... etc. The excitement of his life dazzled a 16 year-old classics student, Hilder Youngberg, who married Floyd over her parents' stormy objections to a circus-type son-in-law and joined his high wire act in Los Angeles. After a five-year tour as an aerialist team, Floyd and Hilder decided the "Big Top" was too small for them. To fly higher, they needed an airplane, and promptly set out to build one, although neither had ever flown. They drew on popular magazine articles for technical guidance. Construction began in January 1912, with Hilder shaping the wing nubs and applying the fabric while Floyd did the heavier work (which included thinking). A unique control system evolved -- unlike other planes of the time which used wheel, shoulder yoke, and often foot pedals, Floyd Smith's plane was controlled laterally, vertically, and horizontally by the wheel. Exultant after his first flight on June 12, he lost no time rigging a second seat and dual controls for Hilder. The Smiths set out [[insert]] This is not Smith tractor but only Martin built Curtiss pusher school plane on 1914. [[/insert]] [[caption]] Floyd Smith and his wife Hilder hit the barn storming trail weeks after first successful flight on June 12, 1912 in an aircraft he designed and built with Hilder's help. [[/caption]] [[left image: Hilder and Smith in rudimentary plane]] 12 FAA Aviation News / May 1970 [[right image: drawing of skirted, heeled woman with head scarf evidently held aloft by parachute with harness strapped about her waist]] [[Headline]] Do-it-yourself Smith Inventor of free fall parachute was a man of parts [[/Headline]] [[caption]] Split-second reaction to an emergency, a throwback to her circus days, enabled Hilder Smith to untangle her twisted parachute during an air show over Los Angeles Harbor. [[/caption]] on a barnstorming sweep that carried them through the southwest and ended a year later in Kansas City, Mo., where they were grounded by creditors. Back in Los Angeles, Floyd went to work for plane builder Glenn Martin, starting as a mechanic, but quickly rising to become Martin's chief test pilot. While putting a Martin biplane through its paces in the spring of 1914, Floyd had a wing failure at 1,500 feet. Unable to parachute free because the aircraft was spinning down, he had no choice but to crash land. He escaped unhurt but was shaken up enough to decide that there must be a better way of getting down. What was needed to escape from a disabled, uncontrollable aircraft as it spun toward the earth was a chute to be opened by the wearer, not the plane, Floyd reasoned. With the parachutes of the time, it was impossible since they were all fastened by a rope to the aircraft. The rope either held a parachute container fast to the aircraft while the flyer's falling body pulled out the chute, or it pulled the parachute out of a pack worn by the flyer. In either case, a churning aircraft would foul the chute with fatal results. A few weeks later, his wife Hilder almost fell to her death during an exhibition jump while wearing a "static" Martin-Broadwick parachute during an airshow over Los Angeles Harbor. Glen Martin had persuaded her to make the jump, her second, and as it turned out, her last, as about 600 feet. Twisting about as she jumped, Hilder managed to foul her chute. She free-fell 400 feet, her chute a long plume streaming behind her, but her training in the circus enabled her to jerk and haul the lines until the chute opened, 200 feet above ground. Although he discussed some ideas for a free fall parachute with Martin's chief engineer, Charles F. Willard, Floyd had not opportunity to develop them. Then in the fall of 1918 he was summoned by Willard to work for the Army Air Corps. With the help of another [[insert]] no a mechanic [[/insert]] pilot, Guy Ball. Smith tested all existing chutes and produced his own modifications, endeavoring to overcome the basic weakness that characterized foreign chutes. By installing a flexible vent on his early models, he created a chute that would with stand a load of 500 pounds against a wind velocity of 125 mph Floyd Smith is also credited with adopting silk [[footnote]] 1 [[/footnote]] as the main parachute fabric, an innovation that reduced weight, made packing and deployment easier, and was stronger by far than any other fabric. By Dec 8, 1918, Smith had a workable free-fall parachute. Proof of his success could be seen almost daily in the skies over McCook Field as dummies floated softly to earth under silken canopies. Then suddenly the war ended. Pilots and even scientists were now publicly dubious about a free-fall parachute. Some said a parachutist falling free would lose consciousness before he had a chance to pull his ripcord. Others said fear would freeze a man into immobility, or the rushing wind would cause a man to flail himself to 1. Broadwick used silk first I'm sure. Floyd was 1st with nyl made by Cheney Silk Co. - Pirim
Transcription Notes:
[[left image: Hilder and Smith in rudimentary plane]]
[[right image: drawing of skirted, heeled woman with head scarf evidently held aloft by parachute with harness strapped about her waist]]
